TikTok

TikTok is in play with the Microsoft- Walmart bid still in the lead

While Microsoft continues to appear to be the top bidder, the company has recently come under scrutiny for its close relationship with China, which Navarro noted as a major difference from competitor Oracle with respect to national security. 

Sources familiar with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance tell FOX Business that while “Microsoft stepped in as a standalone, now it’s not. There’s an honest competition now. [TikTok] bolsters Microsoft’s cloud business but the same could be said for Oracle."

Microsoft's relationship with China has come under scrutiny amid ongoing discussions for the tech conglomerate's potential acquisition of the dance video app TikTok.

General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, two major investors in TikTok’s Chinese parent company, are maneuvering to be part of a deal to acquire the U.S. operations of the popular video-sharing app as it seeks to avoid a ban by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the discussions.

TikTok on Monday sued President Trump over his executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app, calling it a pretext to fuel anti-China rhetoric as he seeks reelection.

When Facebook Inc.

Reuters is reporting exclusively that TikTok is preparing to mount a legal challenge as early as Monday to President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting transactions with the popular short video app and its Chinese parent ByteDance

TikTok's vice president said Wednesday that a U.S. purchase of the app would bring "immense" value to American taxpayers.

In the race against the clock set by the Trump administration, a binding deal to buy the controversial but wildly popular Chinese-owned app TikTok will most likely be signed with a U.S. suitor by the mid-September deadline, but the actual close of the deal could come several months later due to President Trump’s shifting and extending key deadlines, FOX Business has learned.

President Trump said Tuesday that Oracle could handle a TikTok purchase.

"We disagree with the Executive Order, as we expressed in a recent blog post," A spokesperson for TikTok said. "That said, We have no involvement with and are not coordinating on the initiative of employees that has been undertaken in their personal capacity outside of work. We respect the rights of employees to engage in concerted activity to seek due process of law."

Kanye West wants to collaborate with TikTok to make a Christian version of the app.

"Transparency is at our core, and we are committed to leading the industry in security and accountability," the company wrote in a blog post Monday. 

Last week, Trump had ordered sweeping but vague bans on dealings with the Chinese owners of TikTok and the messaging app WeChat, saying they are a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy.

President Trump's campaign opened an account for him on TikTok competitor Triller on Saturday as TikTok's future remains uncertain ahead of a looming ban necessitating the social media phenomenon make a deal with a U.S. company.

TikTok also faces a federal class-action lawsuit over alleged misuse of U.S. user data.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Wednesday that the state would block TikTok from all of its electronic devices due to security concerns.

The tactic appears to have violated Google policies.

The New York Yankees and the YES Network reportedly agreed to a sponsorship deal with TikTok as President Trump looks to ban the app in the U.S. over security concerns.